Hailed as an extraordinarily versatile artist, Giordani’s repertory encompasses a wide and diverse range of roles, a list that spans the gamut from the Bel Canto heroes of Donizetti and Bellini to the more dramatic roles of Verdi and Puccini.
In demand by the world’s major opera houses and symphony orchestras, Giordani opened the Metropolitan Opera’s 2006-07 season singing Pinkerton in the company’s new production of Madama Butterfly directed by Anthony Minghella. It was the first time in 20 years that the Met opened its season with a new production.
Giordani will again open the Met’s new 2007-2008 season as Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, in a new production by Tony Award-winning director Mary Zimmerman. He will also appear in a revival of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut and make his debut in the title role of Verdi’s Ernani, in a production which has not been heard at the Met since 1985. The Manon Lescaut performance of February 16th will be shown live in movie theaters throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan, as part of the Met’s new series of live performance transmissions “Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD.” In the Summer of 2007, Giordani will join the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood for his debut in La Damnation De Faust. He will perform the role of Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut at the Teatro Massimo Bellini of Catania. He will return to Boston with the BSO to perform Les Troyens in the Spring of 2008.
During the current 2006-07 Met season, in addition to inaugurating the season as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Giordani appeared as Enzo in La Gioconda, Rodolfo in La Bohème, and Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra. He also presented a Master Class at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, performed at the “Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala”, and appeared as Des Grieux in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. He was the special guest at “The Song Continues”, the annual recital of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, and gave a private recital at the Supreme Court at the invitation of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Upcoming performances in the Spring of 2007 include the title role of Giordano’s Andrea Chénier at the Teatro Massimo Bellini of Catania, Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut at the Opernhaus Zürich, and his debut as Paolo il Bello in Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini also in Zurich. The Summer of 2007 will see him in La Bohème at the Arena di Verona, Tosca at the Festival Puccini in Torre del Lago, and a concert performance of La Damnation de Faust with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, conducted by James Levine. This will be followed by a Tour with the BSO and Maestro Levine, which will bring Berlioz’ opera to four European cities: Luzern, Switzerland; Essen, Germany; Paris, France; and London, U.K.
In the summer of 2006, Giordani sang Il Trovatore at the Opera Festival Avenches, Tosca at the Festival Puccini in Torre del Lago, Turandot at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and a concert performance of Simon Boccanegra at the Verbier Festival under the direction of Maestro Levine.
During the 2005-2006 season, Giordani sang Arnold in Guillaume Tell at the Wiener Staatsoper and then repeated the role in a concert performance with Opera Orchestra of New York (OONY). The latter performance proved such a triumph, that when the audience threatened to stop the show at his rendition of the cabaletta “Amis, amis secondez ma vengeance”, demanding that he sing it again, he repeated the cabaletta and received a standing ovation. He also made his American debut in Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera, performed Manon Lescaut at the Teatro Regio di Parma, celebrated the 20th anniversary of his professional debut with a special concert at the Teatro Massimo Bellini, and made his debut in Don Carlo at the Teatro Regio of Torino. Additional engagements last season featured Turandot at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, his first fully staged La Gioconda at the Teatro Massimo Bellini, Manon in Bilbao, and Rigoletto at the Opernhaus Zürich.
In the summer of 2005, Giordani made his debut in Andrea Chénier at the Macerata Summer Festival, and performed the Verdi Requiem under the direction of James Levine at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, as well as La Bohème at the Zürich Festspieler. He returned to the Teatro Massimo Bellini in the Fall for Un Ballo in Maschera.
During the 2004-05 season, Giordani performed Enzo in La Gioconda in a concert version at the Royal Opera under the direction of Anthony Pappano, sang in two new productions of Manon Lescaut at the Opernhaus Zürich and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and made his debut in the title role of Il Trovatore at the Houston Grand Opera, followed by performances of this opera in Torino. Additional performances during that season included Un Ballo in Maschera and Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera.
In the summer of 2004, Giordani performed Madama Butterfly at the Arena di Verona, and sang for the first time the Italian version of I Vespri Siciliani in Zürich as part of the Zürcher Festspiele. In the 2003/04 season, Giordani made history when he became the first tenor at the Metropolitan Opera to sing the title role of Berlioz’ Benvenuto Cellini in the company’s premiere production under the direction of James Levine. He returned to the Opéra National de Paris in the Fall for a season-opening Tosca; made his debut as Enzo in La Gioconda with Opera Orchestra of New York where his rendition of the aria “Cielo e mar” was called “sensational” by the New York Times; performed Turandot at La Scala and Tosca in Vienna; and made his debut in Carmen in Palermo.
The summer of 2003 saw him in Turandot at the Festival Puccini in Torre del Lago, and in a concert of Verdi arias at the Festival Verdi at the Teatro Regio di Parma.
During the 2002-03 season, Giordani starred in a new production of Les Vêpres Siciliennes at the Opéra National de Paris; sang the title role of the Metropolitan Opera’s premiere production of Bellini’s Il Pirata (a role he had previously performed at the Chatelet: Théâtre Musical de Paris); performed in Les Huguenots in Frankfurt, La Damnation de Faust in Genoa, Tosca and Roméo et Juliette in Vienna, Guillaume Tell at the Opéra National de Paris, and gave a series of recitals in the United States and Italy.
The summer of 2002 included performances of the Verdi Requiem under the direction of Riccardo Chailly and Tosca with the Washington Opera in Japan.
Of Giordani’s performance as Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur with Opera Orchestra of New York during the 2001-02 season, The New York Times wrote: “Marcello Giordani sang like a god.” The season also included performances of the Verdi Requiem for the Maggio Musicale under the direction of Zubin Mehta and his first appearances in Un Ballo in Maschera for the Washington National Opera. He also became the first Italian in the history of the Metropolitan Opera to sing the role of Lenski in Eugene Onegin in Russian.
Prior career highlights for Marcello Giordani include his Carnegie Hall debut in Lucrezia Borgia with Opera Orchestra of New York, Les Huguenots with OONY and in Bilbao, his debut with the Munich Philharmonic in La Damnation de Faust under the direction of James Levine, the Verdi Requiem under the direction of Maestro Levine also in Carnegie Hall, La Favorite and a season-opening Luisa Miller at the San Francisco Opera, Manon at the Metropolitan Opera and the Opéra National de Paris, Attila in Bologna, and Simon Boccanegra at the Royal Opera under the direction of Sir Georg Solti; the latter marked the last staged opera performances conducted by Maestro Solti.
On television, Giordani has been a frequent guest star on the nationally televised Richard Tucker Gala, and the guest artist at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for their nationally televised Christmas midnight mass.
Marcello Giordani made his professional stage debut as the Duke in Rigoletto in Spoleto, Italy in 1986, his American debut as Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles at the Portland Opera during their 1988-89 season, his La Scala debut as Rodolfo in La Bohème in 1988, and his Metropolitan Opera debut as Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore in 1993.
Marcello Giordani’s discography includes the first studio recording of Verdi’s Jérusalem for Philips and two solo recordings: the first, on Naxos, features tenor arias by Bellini, Bizet, Donizetti, Mascagni, Rossini, and Verdi, among others, and the second on VAI, entitled Sicilia Bella, features classical songs from Giordani’s native Sicily. He is also featured on Many Voices, a compilation of songs by composer Steven Mercurio on Sony Classical. On DVD, Giordani can be seen as Pinkerton in Franco Zeffirelli’s 2004 production of Madama Butterfly from the Arena di Verona, issued on TDK, and as Rodolfo in a 2005 production of La Bohème from the Zürich Opernhaus, on EMI. Mr. Giordani was also a guest artist at the 2006 Columbus Day Parade.
